Delphi Developer's Handbook
Free Chapter 15: Other Delphi Extensions
This is the HTML version of the uncorrected proofs of Chapter 15 of the book Delphi Developer's Handbook, ISBN: 0-7821-1987-5. The HTML file has been broken in sections: You can browse each of them using the links in this page or download a Zip file with the entire text and images (161 KB). The final PDF version of the chapter will be available soon on Sybex Web site. All the material is copyright Marco Cantu' 1997.
Introduction
There are numerous ways to extend the Delphi environment. As we’ve seen in the previous three chapters, it’s possible to extend Delphi’s Object Inspector with custom property editors, extend the Form Designer with custom component editors, and extend the development environment with wizards. In addition to these three major techniques, there are many other ways to extend Delphi via the ToolsAPI, and by using other "unofficial" techniques.
In this chapter, we’ll briefly explore the integration of generic external tools (a very simple but interesting technique), extend the Project Information Wizard we built in the last chapter, build a bare-bone Version Control System, create custom form designers, and finally explore some "unofficial" Delphi extensions.
Here are the main sections of this chapter: